Rangers Fans: Move on from Game 5

I begin to write this at 6:43 PM ET on the day following the Rangers heartbreaking loss in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden. Since that deflating loss, for the most part, all I have heard are Ranger fans complaining about how poorly they've played and how the season is over.

Stop it.

Get over Game 5. There's nothing you can change about anything that happened in Game 5. Let's move past the poor passing, the extinct power play and Chris Neil's hit on Brian Boyle. Enough. Move on.

While you're at it, quit saying the season is over. If you want to write this team off before they are actually eliminated from the postseason, I don't want you rooting for this team anymore. Go root for the Devils. Seriously, go.

Have you forgotten what took place across the river just a short while ago with my beloved Giants? Throughout the entire season I was asked the same questions every week: "Why do you keep going to games and rooting for that team?" "Why are you wasting your time and effort with that team?" "You can't be serious thinking they're going to win."

That same team I was told to stop rooting for won the goddamn Super Bowl.

Two seasons ago, the Bruins had a 3-0 series lead on the Flyers. Flyers won and went to the Cup Final.

Look, I get it. The Rangers aren't playing their best hockey right now. They haven't scored in five consecutive periods plus 2:42 of overtime. They're on the brink of elimination trailing 3-2 in the Cup quarterfinals. Things look a bit bleak.

You don't stop rooting when you're a fan. If you do, you can't call yourself a fan. There's a reason they put up 109 points in the regular season: they're a good hockey team.

If they lose tomorrow, they lose and I'll be heartbroken. But don't be negative about them now. Have some faith.

Rangers in seven.

Carl Hagelin Suspended 3 Games for Hit on Daniel Alfredsson -- This Is My Head Exploding

In one of the most mind-boggling moves in recent NHL history, the league has suspended Carl Hagelin for three....yes THREE games for this hit on Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson:

It was most certainly a dirty hit and Alfredsson was injured on the play (no word as to whether Alfredsson will play in Game 3 tomorrow). But while Brendan Shanahan slammed Hagelin with a three-game ban, what Shea Weber did to Henrik Zetterberg a few nights ago in Nashville warranted a mere slap on the wrist:

Watch each of those again and tell me what you think is worse. Weber did not commit a hockey play. Instead, Weber grabbed Zetterberg's head and slammed it against the glass like it was a turnbuckle at Royal Rumble. What was Weber's penalty? A fine of $2,500. That's it. This is an embarrassment.

I am more than just angry with this decision. This is a complete joke. Yes, Hagelin warranted a suspension, but to compare these two incidents and say Hagelin's is worse is more of a crime and you give him three games? Seriously?

Shanahan gave his reasons for Hagelin's suspension but I disagree wholeheartedly about the length of it. Because Alfredsson suffered injury and Zetterberg walked away that made it worse? If Zetterberg had suffered a concussion would Weber have been suspended? It should be about the act of the penalty, not completely based on the severity. What Weber did to Zetterberg was disgusting and he'd be in jail if he did it out in public (and I'm a huge, huge Shea Weber fan).

Shanahan also goes on to say that Hagelin has never been fined or suspended for an illegal act committed on the ice either. I find myself again asking why he received three games. Why such a lengthy suspension in the playoffs for a player not known for being dirty.

Meanwhile, Matt Carkner, a guy that's known to be an enforcer, goes out of his way to pummel Brian Boyle's head in and gets one game. ONE GAME!

Carkner was on the wrong side of the ice from his defensive positioning. Carkner personally assaulted Boyle who was unaware that Carkner was attacking him and gets one game. That is NOT a hockey play. That is a personal attack. Hagelin finished his check, albeit illegally. But that was a hockey play.

Carkner's sole intent on that "play" was to inflict injury on Boyle. There was no other reasoning behind it. He gets less of a suspension than Hagelin. My mind is blown.

I can't wait to see what Shanahan gives to two members of the Penguins who went out of their way to inflict pain on the Flyers today.

After Brayden Schenn delivered a punishing, legal hit to one of the Penguins, Arron Asham, a known dirty player, comes in an cross checks Schenn right across the jaw. How many games will Asham be suspended?

Later in the game, James Neal leaves his feet and charges Sean Couturier and no penalty was called:

Neal seeked Couturier out and delivered a punishing blow. Couturier looked very woozy when he skated off the ice as well. How many games will Neal receive?

This is a complete joke of inconsistency and I'm heated.

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UPDATE: 9:48 pm - 4/15/12 - RANGERS STATEMENT:
The New York Rangers accept the NHL’s three-game suspension of Carl Hagelin and will not pursue an appeal.  However, we are thoroughly perplexed in the ruling’s inconsistency with other supplementary discipline decisions that have been made throughout this season and during the playoffs.  We will have no further comment on this decision.
     ....good for the Rangers to speak out on this. Let's be consistent, eh?

UPDATE: 10:41 am - 4/16/12 - ALFREDSSON SKATING:

Reports all over the net are saying that Alfredsson is on the ice in morning skate. This is a surefire bet that Alfredsson will play tonight in Game 3.

     ....the Rangers need to retract their statement and appeal the suspension asap. If Alfredsson misses no time in the series and the punishment is based on the severity of the injury and NOT the intent like Shanahan said, Hagelin should miss no time and get the exact same fine that Weber received. This makes the suspension look so much worse. Much, much worse. Hagelin is not a dirty player and Shanahan recognizes this. He even said on WFAN this morning that Hagelin is "a good kid." To give him three games in a playoff series, Alfredsson had to miss time. But he's not. If the suspension is reduced to one game, or two max, I'd be OK with it.

John Tortorella Slams Penguins After Controversial Play

UPDATE - FRIDAY 4/6: Tortorella fined $20K for his postgame comments and Orpik receives no suspension. This is a complete joke. Tortorella speaks a factual statement about the Penguins and Orpik goes out of his way to illegally hit Stepan. The NHL dropped the ball on this one.



Rangers head coach John Tortorella delivered a verbal uppercut to Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik and the Penguins organization following a knee-on-knee collision with center Derek Stepan. The replays clearly show Orpik sticking his knee out to make contact with Stepan and Tortorella did not take kindly to it.

"It's a cheap, dirty hit," Tortorella said. "I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars over there.  I wonder what would happen. I'm anxious to see what happens with the league with this. Just no respect amongst players. None. It's sickening."

There have been no reports on the severity of Stepan's knee injury, but he did not return to the game in the few minutes remaining on the clock.

Tortorella has become the third significant person this week to openly criticize the Penguins after analyst Mike Milbury and Philadelphia Flyers assistant coach Craig Berube. Tortorella did not stop there.

"It's one of the most arrogant organizations in the league. They whine about this stuff all the time and look what happens. It's ridiculous. But they'll whine about something else over there won't they? Starting with their two (expletive) stars."

I wish there was a camera on me as I watched Tortorella speak on the postgame show. Eyebrows raised, jaw dropped.

It is about time there are strong words being thrown out at the Penguins. It is about damn time.

You might not think so, but I take a ton of heat from Penguins fans every single time I say anything anti-Sidney Crosby. There is no doubt Crosby is the best player in the NHL. None. Yet he constantly whines every time someone just simply breathes on him.

The most recent incident came this past Sunday in a game against the Flyers. He put a late hit on rookie Brayden Schenn along the boards. Seconds later, Schenn repaid the favor by crosschecking Crosby in the back. An eye for an eye. You're even, right? Nope. Crosby looked around for the nearest official. Much to my dismay, Schenn did not receive a penalty.

This points exactly to Tortorella's comments tonight. It seems the Penguins' mentality is: "we can do it to you, but you can't do it to us."

Finally it is not us, the fans, that are openly barking harsh words at Pittsburgh. People are taking notice and tensions are boiling over. I'm surprised it's taken so long.

Rangers Clinch the Atlantic and I'm Damn Proud

As the clocked trickled down in the final seconds of last night's game between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, I could feel the smile growing across my face as I did the goosebumps all over my body. The Rangers clinched their first Atlantic Division title in 18 years.

Within minutes of the Rangers winning the division on the ice of an arch enemy, I started to realize just how big of a deal this is. Ranger fans all across social networks were posting various status updates, tweets and photos in a barrage of excitement I have never seen regarding this team. This night may have been the biggest night for me as a Ranger fan in my life.

You may say to yourself, "the biggest night of your life should be back in June of 1994 when they won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years." Be that as it may, I was only 10 years old and wasn't as rabid a fan as I am today. I also did not realize the ramifications of what a Cup victory had done to a fanbase deprived of a championship for over half of a decade.

Quick side story: I had never watched a full Rangers game prior to them winning the Cup in '94. I had watched bits and pieces, but neither of my parents were hockey fans and I got into the sport on my own. We lived in Connecticut and I did not get MSG in the town that I had lived. On the night of Game 7, New York's FOX 5 said they'd broadcast the final few minutes of the game and dad said he'd let me stay up on a school night (I know...weird I got a local New York channel in CT but not MSG...I tell you it's awful living in that state). We had a horrendous thunderstorm in town that night and just as FOX was about to toss to the game, we lost cable. I had to run to my bedroom to listen to the final call on the radio.

If that had happened to me at this age, I promise you I would suffer from cardiac arrest and die on the spot. I'm convinced there would be no other outcome to that situation.

Since that night, my fandom for this team has steadily grown into a massive love affair. In the past 18 years, the highest rating I could possibly give one single Rangers season would have to be mediocre with the exception of a loss in the conference finals in 1997.

The Rangers had an eight-year, seven-season drought of missing the postseason (every NHL fan lost in the year of the lockout). Since '97, they have only twice reached the conference semifinals. This is why this year's division championship means so much.

Yeah, it's merely a division championship. I've seen more division championships as a Yankee fan than I have follicles of hair on my head. But, it's been nearly two decades since the previous one for the Blueshirts. This is the most we've had to celebrate this team this century and I'm going to milk every last drop of it.

Should the Rangers not bring the Stanley Cup back to the Canyon of Heroes on a June morning this year, we cannot consider this season a loss. While we all should be very optimistic of how far the Rangers can go in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we should also embrace what we've had to enjoy this season. This team gives an all-out effort every night they take the ice. This has by far been the best season this team has brought us in a long, long time.